


like fire as it grows

by ricky_goldsworth



Category: Buzzfeed: Worth It (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, Multi, Prompt: Earth Day, Tumblr: Buzzfeed Creations Challenge, mild alcohol use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-05-03 00:15:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14556711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ricky_goldsworth/pseuds/ricky_goldsworth
Summary: Written for the second round of the Buzzfeed Creation Challenge, prompt: Earth Day! (almost a week late, because I'm a mess)“It’s dumb, right?” Andrew grins, but Adam looks contemplative.“It’s very Steven,” he says after a minute.“Yeah, I guess it is,” Andrew muses.





	like fire as it grows

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to teamokdynamite on tumblr for helping me with Adam's text sass :)
> 
> If you got here by googling yourself, hit the back button now! If you got here some other way, I have a tumblr at [ricky-goldsworth](https://ricky-goldsworth.tumblr.com/post/173635511549/bfcc-round-2-like-fire-as-it-grows).

“So, you know Earth Day’s coming up.”

Steven’s half-sitting on the arm of Andrew’s chair, forcing Andrew to brace his weight against him so they don’t both go rolling away. He’s looking down at him, smiling the little half-smile that means he’s got a plan. Andrew sighs, rests his head on Steven’s arm.

“Yeah?” he says.

“Are we gonna do it?”

That surprises a laugh out of Andrew. “What?”

“You know, do the thing where you don’t use any electricity for an hour, to save the planet!” Steven has apparently completely missed his own innuendo. Andrew catches himself looking around for Adam, but of course, they’re not on camera, so there’s no one for him to trade rolled eyes with.

“Is that really a thing people do?”

Steven grins, nodding emphatically. “Yeah, of course!”

“It’s not very practical, is it? I doubt it would actually make a difference.”

Steven pouts. “I don’t think it’s supposed to make a difference, exactly? It’s supposed to like, raise awareness.”

“By sitting in the dark for an hour?”

“I don’t know, it’s supposed to make you think about stuff!” Steven’s getting exasperated, talking with his hands. “You know, not leaving the water running when you’re brushing your teeth, turning the lights off when you leave a room, that kind of thing.”

Andrew counts off Steven’s “stuff” on his fingers, follows up with “…shutting down the water bottling plants in the desert…” and Steven bursts out laughing, swats at the back of his head.

“Shut up. I want to do Earth Day, you should come over.”

Andrew does roll his eyes this time, but he can’t remember the last time he actually said no to Steven. “I don’t know what you think it’s going to achieve, but alright. I’ll be there.”

Steven goes from agitation to just beaming at him in a second. Andrew smiles in spite of himself.

“Awesome! Okay. See you later, Andrew!” Steven says, already hopping off the arm of Andrew’s chair and heading off on some new mission. Andrew watches him go, weaving between passing coworkers in a flurry of awkward waves and ducked-headed nods. The difference between this stilted, aggressively polite, professional Steven and the one who was practically sitting on top of Andrew a moment ago is stark.

 _God, he’s such a mess_ , Andrew thinks. Of course, he’s been refusing to acknowledge the warm feeling it gives him to watch Steven shed all that awkwardness around him for almost a year. He’s not about to stop now.

* * *

The next time it comes up, Andrew is helping Adam split a giant cheese wheel in the Tasty studio.

“Has Steven asked you about Earth Day yet?” Andrew asks, and Adam stops hammering at the cheese, looks up at him over his glasses.

“...yes.” he says.

“It’s dumb, right?” Andrew grins, but Adam looks contemplative as he goes back to hammering.

“It’s very Steven,” he says after a minute.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” Andrew muses. “Should we bring food or something? Flashlights?”

Adam smiles, very small like he’s got a private joke, and Andrew smiles to match him without knowing what the joke is, because he can’t help but smile whenever Adam does. “I think he’s probably got it covered.”

Andrew shrugs. That’s probably true. If Worth It has taught Andrew anything, it’s that Steven delights in having his friends trust him enough to just come along for the ride.

He and Adam have both gotten good at that.

* * *

A couple days later, Andrew’s working sound for a video of Niki’s when he catches a wisp of silver hair out of the corner of his eye.

Steven is sneaking past the filming area - and sneaking is definitely the word for it, because while he’s not at all hidden, he’s walking hunched over, checking over his shoulder every few steps with wide, worried eyes. Behind him, Adam is walking normally, hands in the pockets of his slacks, silent exasperation radiating off of him. No one else seems to have noticed them, but something’s clearly up, and Andrew decides before he’s really processed what he’s looking at that he needs to go and help Adam keep Steven out of whatever trouble he’s trying to get himself into.

“Hey, Annie, can you hold this? I’ll be back in a second, just, ah, just need the bathroom,” Andrew murmurs, pressing the boom mic into Annie’s hands. She blinks at him, but accepts the mic rather than argue and risk messing up their audio. Andrew waves his thanks over his shoulder, already half-jogging across the studio.

There are conspiratorial voices coming from the store room. “We just need like, what, two tins? Three? That’s not that much, is it?”

“That’s a lot, Steven.”

“Yeah, but there a-” Steven breaks off as Andrew steps inside, pulling the roller door shut behind him. “Oh my god, Andrew, you scared me!”

“What are we doing?” Andrew asks, folding his arms and leaning against the door, giving Steven and Adam both a sure sign that he’s not letting them leave without explaining themselves.

In the low light, the gold of the tins in Steven’s hands glints dully. He looks down at them, then at Andrew, teeth worrying at his lip. “Uh, nothing.”

Andrew gets comfortable against the door.

Adam sighs, takes the tins from Steven’s hands, holding them up like a losing hand. It’s caviar, the last of the shipment ordered in for Eat Your Feed a month ago. “Supplies.”

“Supplies?” Andrew echoes. “For what?”

“For, um, not for anything. I don’t know. Um -” Steven looks more panicky now than he did out in the studio. Andrew softens, dropping his arms to his sides.

“I’m not going to get you in trouble, Steven,” he says. “You know I wouldn’t do that. Just tell me what’s going on.”

Steven sighs. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

Andrew feels his eyebrows rise. That’s… odd. “Alright, but that makes it pretty hard to make up an excuse. And I think we’re gonna need an excuse, if you two are taking the last of the caviar.”

Adam sighs. “It’s my caviar, technically. And I didn’t have anything planned for the last of it.”

Andrew blinks. “Did you order extra for this?”

“No. Well, kind of. Just for screw-ups and reshoots. Although,” he shoots a pointed look at Steven, puts two of the tins back on the shelf, “We’re still not taking all of it.”

“Huh. Well, I guess if it’s not gonna be missed…” Reluctantly, Andrew steps away from the door, and Steven rushes forward, pulls him into a hug.

“Thank you so much! You won’t regret this!” he says.

“Alright,” Andrew says, borne down under the weight of Steven’s enthusiasm. “Just - Steven, you have to be more subtle. You looked cartoonishly guilty coming in here.”

There’s a soft huff of breath as Adam laughs. “I’ve got the caviar. Steven, you focus on… acting natural.”

Steven’s eyes widen again, and Andrew shakes his head, reaches up to loop an arm around his shoulders and turn him toward the store room door. “I’ll walk with you. I’m guessing this is about the most deviant thing you’ve ever done, so just let Adam and I take the lead.”

The tension in Steven’s shoulders melts away. He smiles, knocks his head softly against Andrew’s. “I’ve done plenty of deviant things. You don’t know me.”

“Uh huh,” Adam says, pulling the roller door open. “I’m sure.”

Steven squawks, and Andrew grins, and Adam’s eyes are watery from laughing by the time they get out of the studio.

* * *

Still, there’s something about it all that sticks in Andrew’s head.

Steven’s as much a goody-two-shoes as they come, and Adam’s far too dedicated to his work to risk getting hauled in by the higher-ups over a tin of caviar. Neither of them are the sort to do something so reckless. So either he’s on Candid Camera, they’ve got a hell of a reason, or they’re keeping something from him.

Well, actually they’re keeping something from him either way. And that’s new, at least where Steven’s planning for the show isn’t concerned. And not pleasant.

On Wednesday afternoon, Andrew is mulling this over as he checks his mail when someone waves for his attention and he realises he’s been standing in the lobby of his apartment building, staring through an inspection notice, for several minutes.

“Hey, neighbor,” the guy says. He’s pleasant, sheepish almost, as if he were the one inconveniencing Andrew by zoning in front of the mailboxes. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Joe.”

Andrew arranges his face into a smile, holds his hand out to shake. “Andrew. Are you the new guy? From down the hall?” He’d seen boxes piled up outside one of the apartments a week or so ago, a handful of people directing a sofa up the stairs when he’d gotten home from work last Thursday.

“Yeah, that’s right!” Joe smiles. “And, uh, we’re actually having a housewarming on Sunday night. Did you want to come along? Nothing too crazy, I know it’s a school night, just, you know. Couple drinks, dinner. Just an opportunity to get to know our new neighbors!”

Andrew feels his smile slipping. Sunday is the twenty-second, is Earth Day. He’d promised Steven he’d come over, but if he turns down this invitation, he’ll be the asshole who didn’t come to the new neighbors’ housewarming party for as long as they live here. It’ll be awkward as hell.

“Andrew?”

Andrew shakes himself. “Yeah, sorry! That sounds great. What time?”

“Six o’clock. It’ll be good to see you there.”

“Good. Great. See you then.”

Joe waves, heads out the lobby doors, and leaves Andrew to bang his head against the mailboxes.

* * *

Steven is his usual bouncy self the next morning, sipping on boba tea and smiling at his monitor, when Andrew approaches him at his desk. He looks up at Andrew and the smile broadens into a grin, and Andrew prepares himself to kick a metaphorical puppy as he drops into the chair next to him, rolls it forward to bump his knee against Steven’s thigh.

“What’s up?” Steven asks.

“So, I’ve got some new neighbors,” Andrew starts, “And they’re having a housewarming.”

“Okay?”

“And I told them I’d go, because if I didn’t go, I’d be _that guy_ who didn’t come to the housewarming, you know?”

“Yeah, I get that.”

“Only, the housewarming’s on Sunday.”

Steven’s smile fades. He shifts unconsciously in his chair, pulling away from Andrew. “Oh.” he says. “Sunday’s Earth Day.”

Andrew grimaces. “Yeah. I’m really sorry, man.”

“N-no, it’s okay!” Steven says. He’s floundering, awkward, trying to shield Andrew from his own discomfort. It _hurts_ to see him like this, like they’re near-strangers again.

“Can we - I don’t know, I guess we can’t really reschedule, huh?”

Steven winces a smile. “Not really.”

“I mean, Adam’s still coming, right?” he says, casting around for a way to make that smile genuine. Steven nods. “Who else?”

Steven looks away, mumbles something that sounds worryingly like “nobody.”

“…shit. I’m sorry, Steven.”

“It’s fine. Have a good time, okay? I’ve got to, um.” he gestures to his screen, where Final Cut is open on a frame of them, laughing together in a sunlit café. “I’ve gotta get back to editing.”

Andrew nods, gets up and waves goodbye with a forced smile, but he wants to bury his head in his hands. Or better yet, go home and tell Joe to shove his housewarming.

* * *

Steven is quieter than usual for the rest of the day. Andrew keeps an eye on him, barely gets any work done of his own, as Steven turns down an invite to do a video with Ryan, begs out of lunch with Keith and Zach, pretends not to hear Adam when he comes by with leftover macarons from Tasty and asks what’s wrong. It’s painful to watch, but Andrew forces himself to stay put, because there’s nothing his presence is going to do to make it better.

He slips out of the office at five on the dot, spends his evening making his way through a bottle of rosé with his nose in a book, forcing his own thoughts out of his head in favour of someone else’s. By the next morning, he’s succeeded in making himself feel even worse.

Almost as soon as he sets foot in the Tasty studio on Friday morning, Adam appears beside him, macarons notably absent. “Andrew.”

Andrew takes one look at him and slumps against the cabinets with a grimace. “Adam.”

“What did you do.”

Andrew groans. “I didn’t _mean_ to do anything.”

“Yeah, well, he won’t tell me what’s up, so I’m gonna need more details than that.”

“I had to duck out on Sunday for a housewarming.”

Adam makes an irritated noise. When Andrew looks up at him, he’s pinching the bridge of his nose. “Who has a housewarming on a Sunday?”

He screws his eyes shut. “I don’t know, I didn’t ask. I just didn’t want to be a dick.”

“Well, you’re being a dick.” Adam says, and he sounds serious. Andrew opens his eyes again and Adam’s are on him, solemn. “Steven’s been working on this thing for like a week. You promised him you’d be there.”

“Yeah, I know,” Andrew scrubs at his face. “I thought I wouldn’t be missed.”

Adam snorts. “Seriously?”

Andrew gives him an indignant look. “How was I supposed to know it was just the three of us?”

Adam shakes his head. “You’re both oblivious. Cancel on the housewarming, dude. Trust me.”

“I can’t just -” Andrew starts, but Adam is already walking away. “Shit. Okay.”

* * *

Andrew buys a bottle of Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch on his way home, steels himself as he stands in front of Joe’s door.

A woman he vaguely remembers marshalling the sofa moving operation from the other week answers his knock. “…uh, hi. I’m sorry, I was looking for Joe?”

“He’s at work, sorry,” she says. “I can take a message?”

“Yeah, sorry, sure. He uh, he invited me to the housewarming, but I can’t make it. I wanted to drop this by as an apology.”

“Oh! Alright, sure. Thanks so much. Your name was…?”

“Andrew.”

“I’ll let him know.”

Andrew smiles, relieved, and retreats to his apartment to sink onto his sofa.

 **ANDREW** : I canceled on the housewarming

 **ADAM** : Good. Dork

 **ANDREW** : Why can’t I say no to things like an adult

 **ADAM** : If it makes you feel better, you don't sound like an adult when you say yes either

Andrew throws his phone done on the cushions and follows it with a groan.

* * *

By Sunday, what had been embarrassment over making an ass of himself with the housewarming debacle has metastasised into anxiety about exactly what it is that he nearly messed up. His brain is stuck on a medley of the pinch of nerves in his friends’ faces all this week, the catch in Steven’s throat when he’d said _“I’m sorry, but I can’t.”_ and the flatness of Adam’s _“Trust me.”_

After a few mulligans, he ends up putting on a button-down and a cardigan, standing in front of the mirror in a pair of dark jeans Steven had complimented him on when he’d worn them to work for the first time and frowning at a pair of slacks that Adam had once said suited him. For the first time he can remember, he’s fervently grateful for the perpetual awkwardness that enables him to wear layers to a friend’s house and probably - _probably_ \- not look all that out of place even if it turns out he’s completely misjudged the tone of tonight and Steven and Adam answer the door in jeans and t-shirts.

In the uber, he calls Steven.

He answers in a rush, breathless. “Andrew! Hi! What’s up?”

“Are you sure I can’t bring a bottle of wine or something? It feels weird to turn up empty-handed.”

Steven is laughing before he finishes speaking. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got wine pairings.”

Andrew blinks, bursts out laughing. _Wine pairings?_ “Alright.”

The day is fading into grey twilight as the uber pulls up outside Steven’s building. “Five stars?” the driver asks, and Andrew nods at him as he shuts the door. Then the guy is pulling away, and Andrew feels like David abandoned before a social Goliath.

It feels like the elevator takes an hour to arrive and another hour to take him up to the third floor, but then time accordions in on him and he’s standing in front of Steven’s door, still empty-handed, and he’s almost glad because his hands are suddenly clammy.

The door swings open on the first knock and Adam is there, wearing a button-down, an apron and the smile that means he’s trying not to laugh. The hallway light is warm on his features. He looks Andrew up and down, and the smile broadens into a grin. “Hey.”

Andrew has to clear his throat before his voice will work. “Hi,” he manages, steps inside. The hallway is narrow, and Adam is warm when he brushes against him, even through the cardigan. “Where’s Steven?”

“In the kitchen.”

Andrew grins. “Unsupervised?”

“Only for a minute. Come on,” Adam says, rests a hand on Andrew’s waist as they walk down the hall.

The kitchen is in chaos. It smells like fish and lemon juice, fresh and bright, but there are dishes and utensils scattered everywhere. It’s so very like Steven.

“Need any help?” Andrew asks.

Hovering near the stove with an anxious expression, Steven startles at the sound of his voice. His eyes light up when he sees Andrew, and Andrew feels his stomach swoop the way it always does when Steven looks at him like that.

“You’re here!”

“I promised I would be,” Andrew says, crosses the tiles to Steven’s side and pulls him into a hug before his nerves can get the better of him. “I’m sorry about the other day.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” Steven says, but he squeezes Andrew tightly, lingers a few seconds longer than usual before pulling away. He gestures at the skillet on the stove, where a single fish fillet is skin-down in oil. “Can you help me keep an eye on this while I make the vinaigrette? Here - have an apron.”

Andrew laughs, takes the apron and ties it loosely. “Does it need a lot of watching?”

“I don’t want it to burn! I got it fresh this morning, it’s perfect.”

“Recipe says to hold it down with a spatula,” Adam drawls from behind them, and Steven squawks, grabs one from the bench and jumps toward the stove.

Andrew stops him with a gentle hand on his chest, takes the spatula from his hand. “I’ve got it. You do what you need to do.”

Steven beams at him, and Andrew lets himself enjoy the warmth that blooms in him at that look on his face, presses the spatula gently down and listens to the oil’s satisfying hiss.

Between the three of them, it’s easy. With Adam and Andrew to bounce off of, Steven’s nervous energy blurs out into laughter. Adam measures out ingredients for the purée with painstaking care, refusing to let Andrew or Steven near it, but it’s probably better that way. Steven looks so happy with his vinaigrette that Andrew wants to take a picture, and the sea bass comes out perfect.

“David Chang would be so proud of us right now,” Steven grins, watching Adam spread the purée on three plates with a spoon.

“Are you trying to leave us for Momofuku?” Andrew teases.

Steven rolls his eyes. “And give up this?” he says, looks around at the bombsite that is his kitchen right now, the three of them at the epicentre with smears of oil and flecks of green on their nice clothes in spite of the aprons.

The warmth in Andrew’s chest almost overflows. “Good,” is all he can reply.

“Do you want to do the honours, Steven?” Adam asks, stepping back from the plates.

“Yes! Yeah, okay, take them out to the table, we’ll do it there.”

Adam takes two of the plates, nods at the third. Andrew takes it, follows Adam out to the living room, where Steven’s round table is draped in a white cloth and covered in candles.

It looks ridiculously romantic, but Andrew forces that thought down immediately.

“Okay,” comes Steven’s voice, and Andrew turns to see him emerge from the kitchen with the tin of caviar from the store room and a bottle of pinot grigio. “It’s almost time for lights out.”

“So this is what the caviar heist was about?” Andrew asks.

Steven nods, setting the tin down on the table. “Yeah. Worth it?”

Andrew smiles, looks around the table. Adam is lighting candles, leaning across the table to reach the ones by Andrew’s place setting. Steven has forgotten he still has his apron on, smiling softly at Andrew as he turns over the wine bottle in his hands. “Yeah, I think so,” Andrew says, stepping around behind him to undo the apron. “But you didn’t need to keep it secret.”

“But I wanted it to be special,” Steven says, turning his head to frown at him as Andrew pulls the apron over his head.

“It would still have been special. Where should I put this?”

“I’ll take it back to the kitchen. Can you get the lights?”

They sit down to eat two minutes after lights out, with the candles flickering in the breeze from the open windows.

“Welcome,” Steven announces with a flourish, “to Casa Lim! Tonight we’re having pan-roasted sea bass with edamame, chive and pomegranate, and garnished with caviar!” He makes a ritual of opening the caviar, peeling back the lid painstakingly slow. Andrew trades a fond look with Adam.

It feels strange to take up the whole space around the table, to be spaced evenly between the two of them instead of squeezed in next to Steven and facing Adam opposite them. It's nice, though, to be a little closer to Adam, even if it means being a little further from Steven. The table's still pretty small; he can still reach to pour both of them drinks, so he does. Steven really has looked up wine pairings: the pinot grigio is Italian, bright to match the delicate fish.

“This is amazing, Steven,” he says, and Steven grins, shakes his head.

“We all made this together,” he says. “I had the idea, but you two made it happen.”

Andrew smiles. “Guess so.”

“We work really well together, the three of us.” Steven adds, and there’s something in his voice that brings the nerves from earlier fizzing back to life in Andrew’s stomach.

“Yeah. We do.” Andrew agrees. Adam’s watching him the way he watches chefs when they’re in the middle of preparing an especially complicated dish. He tries to ignore the heat in his face as he takes a bite of the fish. “Oh my god, that’s incredible.”

They eat slowly. The food is almost cold by the time they’re done, just like it tends to be at restaurants, but this time it’s not because they keep pausing for Adam to line up new shots or the restaurateur to tell them something about the dish. Instead, they talk. Steven tells them all about his trip to the fish market this morning. Adam and Andrew tell him stories from the Eat Your Feed shoots, some of which Steven has already heard, but he laughs with bright eyes anyway.

“This purée is… purée-fect.” Andrew says as he’s scraping his plate, and Adam looks up to roll his eyes.

“I was wondering if we’d get through this without any awful puns.”

“I could never,” Andrew says, mock-offended.

“Of course not,” Adam says, and just smiles at him, fond like he is when Steven’s being cute.

Andrew smiles back. The moment stretches, and, warm all over from the wine and the laughter, Andrew lets it. After a moment he feels Steven’s hand, soft on his. Andrew looks over at him, and he’s got the same softness on his face.

Andrew breathes a laugh. “What?”

“You two are so cute when you do that,” Steven says. In the candlelight, his hair is almost golden, his earnest eyes shining.

Andrew’s heart skips a beat. “Yeah?”

Steven smiles, and Andrew sees him reach for Adam’s hand too. The moment is like glass. He tries not to breathe. “Yeah,” Steven says. He takes a deep breath, but his usual nervous energy is gone, replaced by a gentle confidence. “I wanted to have you over tonight because of that.”

Adam is watching Steven with the same concentration from earlier. There’s no surprise on his face, and it occurs to Andrew that that makes sense: he’s always been the observant one. Watching them is his job, after all. “Both of us,” he says, and there’s no question in his tone, only confirmation.

“Yeah,” Steven says, so much softer than usual. Then a look of shock crosses his face, and he’s back to normal volume and higher in a second: “But - but not like a sex thing, just a, a liking you thing, which I guess could be a sex thing eventually but that’s not what I meant by, by this.”

Andrew breaks into laughter. The moment isn’t glass after all - it hasn’t broken, even with Steven’s rushed confession and the disbelieving expression on Adam’s face at hearing Steven say the word “sex”. It’s stronger than that. They’re stronger than that. God, he’s never been this happy in his life.

“Shut up!” Steven says, flustered, and Andrew just squeezes his hand. His eyes are so dark in the candlelight, scrunched up with laughter that’s yet to burst. “Shut up, I was trying to be so smooth, _damnit_.”

“It’s okay. It’s okay!” Andrew reassures him. It’s so easy, suddenly, to say what he’s avoided even thinking for months on end. “I like you too. I like - hang on -” he looks between them with a grin, emphasises his next words carefully, “- I like you _two_.”

Adam smiles, takes Andrew’s hand in his. “I like you two as well,” he says. “But I still hate your puns.”

By the time Andrew’s stopped laughing, Steven’s out of his chair, standing at Adam’s side. He leans down, one hand braced on the back of his chair, and Andrew feels the warmth in his chest run hot at the look that passes between them.

“Just to be, um, just to be totally sure, I mean that I have a crush on you,” he whispers against Adam’s lips, and the room is so quiet that Andrew hears every word. Adam closes the gap between them, reaches up and guides Steven’s hands to his face.

“So do I,” he says when they break apart, and he sounds almost reverent. He turns to Andrew. “Can you come here?”

Andrew brings his chair with him, sits with his legs tangled with Adam’s and takes Steven’s face in his hand. “Steven,” he says, because if not now, then when, “I’ve had a crush on you for almost a year.”

Steven looks stunned, overjoyed. “Really?” he asks. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“He thought you were straight,” Adam says. Andrew nods, lips quirked in a smile.

Steven flushes. His face is warm against the palm of Andrew’s hand. “I’m… sorry?”

Andrew breathes a laugh. “Don’t be,” he says, and kisses him. He tastes like pomegranate. Andrew licks his lips. “I would never have been this brave.”

Adam laughs softly, his hand coming to cup Andrew’s jaw as Andrew turns toward him. “Neither would I,” he says. “Didn’t feel like my place to say anything.”

Andrew looks at him, frowns. Steven seems to have the same idea, his head resting on Adam’s shoulder. “You didn’t think we’d leave you out, did you?” Steven asks.

Adam looks away, but it’s a scant gesture, with barely any space left between them. Andrew reaches up and fixes his glasses for him. “We’ll never leave you out, Adam,” he says. “You’re a part of this.” Adam’s eyes flicker back to his, and Andrew smiles, leans forward just enough to kiss him.

Adam’s face is flushed when Andrew pulls away. “Okay,” he says. “Okay, good.”

“Glad we’ve got that sorted out.” Andrew turns back to Steven. “Steven, did you use Earth Day as an excuse to get us to eat a candlelit dinner together without any cameras running?”

Steven grins, ducks his head to hide his flushing face. “…yeah, kinda.”

Andrew grins, kisses him again. “I stand corrected, then.”

Steven cocks his head. “What about?”

“You really are deviant.”

Steven’s laughter is brighter than electric light could ever be.

**Author's Note:**

> For anyone curious, [this](https://roecaviar.com/blogs/recipes/pan-roasted-sea-bass-with-edamame-chive-pomegranate-roe-caviar) is the dish they made together :)


End file.
